Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Brewmasters & Joining the Guild

October 15, 2013Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Over the weekend, we also watched “Brew Masters” starring Sam Calagione & the rest of the crew at Dogfish Head Brewery of international fame based in Delaware. The show only lasted six episodes, one of which was never aired in the U.S. apparently, but the other five are on Netflix. The story is that… the show was cancelled because “Big Beer” may have threatened to take out their advertising… but whatever case, the ratings were kind of low too. I didn’t even know about it until a few weeks ago. Each episode focuses on the development of one of two of their unique beers… usually starting with the inspiration behind it or the (sometimes convenient) tie-in with another company or event in the industry… then going through the research involved, experimentation of various ideas, sometimes travels to different places around the world (must be sweet to be rolling in dough like that), some problems along the way… and then finally the end product, a craft beer. Regardless of whether I’d try the beer that they made (Chicha still makes me vomit at the thought) the whole process was pretty sweet to watch however doctored for TV it might be… and also, Sam’s a pretty charismatic guy to narrate a show like that… though I kept thinking of Zac Bagans from “Ghost Adventurers” for some reason. Not nearly as douchey though… so I really enjoyed the show. Too bad that “Big Beer” had to shut ‘em down… like they’ve tried to do with several of their most popular beers like Punkin’ Ale & Chicory Stout. Merciless in those billion-dollar industries… but still, check out the show if you can.

After the VGCs, we headed into town to the Main Street Brewery and sampled their Raspberry Hefeweizen & all-day IPA which were on special… as well as their Cajun Fries & Nachos, which were all pretty amazing. We watched a little bit of the 49ers game… Yes, I gave up football for the VGCs because I’m amazing… but yeah, pretty nice place. I’d recommend it if you’re in the area.

Tuesday night, Dizzy & I went to the San Francisco Homebrewer’s Guild Meeting at Anchor Steam Brewery to meet some of our peers in this Homebrewing adventure. We showed up & they had some of the great Anchor Steam brews on tap… complimentary to attendees. Yeah… great beer too. We mingled & met a few of the members… and most of them have been doing it for 8… 15… 20+ years off & on. So then they asked how long we’ve been doing it, “Six weeks.” I think we got a little bit of credibility already coming to meetings like this when we’re so new to the game & so passionate about it… so yeah pretty sweet.

The Guild had some special guest speakers come to talk about “Sour Beers” (the purposely sour kinds) and a lot of the talk was more scientific than we have ventured into yet, but having read the books I was right there for most of it. I’m sure it’ll make even more sense down the road when we have a few brews under our belt. Afterwards, we mingled some more & tasted some of the other brews that members brought along for feedback (pretty good). Next time we may have to bring in our Red Ale & perhaps our Pumpkin Ale or Hefeweizen to get some feedback on how to make the beer even better. You know, whether it’s stuff like Irish Moss for clarity or maybe add a dash more hops or anything like that. These guys & gals seem to be pretty legit. Also, with membership, we get a 10% discount at brewshops… which is cool because we were going to go shopping this weekend anyway. BONUS!!! The meetings are monthly and we’re already pretty excited about going back.

By the way, did anybody catch that Utes pounding of Stanford over the weekend? First big win since the Sugar Bowl over Alabama for the Utes! Congrats! Have a great day everybody!!!